Watch Christian Bale audition for the role of Batman

Long before Ben Affleck was disappointing the internet for being cast as Batman, Christian Bale was outraging nerds everywhere by daring to don the iconic cowl. But in this clip from a bonus disc of the upcoming The Dark Knight Trilogy: Ultimate Collector's Edition, we get a glimpse of how the actor won the role — by putting on Val Kilmer's Bat-suit, and trying out his famous growly voice on now-familiar lines like, "Swear to me!" and "It's not who I am underneath..."

The casting discussions on the bonus disc contain a few surprises—Cillian Murphy originally auditioned for Batman, and director Christopher Nolan originally wanted Gary Oldman for the part of Ra's Al Ghul. The young actress playing Rachel Dawes in the screen test (the role eventually filled by Katie Holmes, then Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a then-relatively unknown Amy Adams, who will no doubt come face to face with the Caped Crusader again when she plays Lois Lane in Superman and Batman.

But the most surprising revelation? After watching this screen test, Nolan apparently said, "can you make the growly voice growlier?"